Participants:
Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000015S
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00:05 Sermon #S009 - (Every Little Step I Take - Part 1)
00:20 Pastor Snell: I just want to know how many of us, after 14 days, 00:24 are still believing for something unrealistic in your life. 00:27 I just need to know who I want to aim this sermon at today. For those of you all who just came to have church, 00:34 this ain't for you. This is for those who are walking in the word 00:39 and are trusting God for some unrealistic outcomes this afternoon. Matthew 14:22. 00:47 Again, when you get there, just say Amen. The Bible says, "Immediately, 00:53 Jesus made the disciples get into the boat." I'm reading from the New International Version. 01:00 Let me switch that to the New King James, so that we are not out of sync with those who are on the screen. 01:06 Matthew 14, I'll begin again in verse 22. "Immediately, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat 01:12 and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 01:18 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. 01:23 Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, 01:29 tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, 01:36 walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, 01:40 they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out for fear. 01:45 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'" 01:52 "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' 01:59 So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 02:08 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, 02:16 he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!' And immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, 02:25 and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 02:35 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'" 02:42 I want to read emphasis verse 31. "And immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him..." 02:55 Anybody thankful that the arm of the Lord is not to short to save and His ear is not too dull to hear? "... 03:02 and said to him," Oh, this is what He's saying to us, Oakwood. "'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' 03:15 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased." Today, saints, 03:20 I want to talk to you for a little while under the subject Every Little Step I Take. Every Little Step I Take. 03:29 Father, I pray that You would cause Your spirit to be so dense in this place, 03:41 that every other principality would be suffocated. 03:46 Father, I'm praying that Your strength would be perfected in my human weakness. 03:52 Lord, You said to us in Your word that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. 03:59 Lord, we are just tired of ordinary church services. 04:04 We don't want this service to be bound by the order of service. 04:08 We want it to be guided by the hand of Your spirit. 04:11 Lord, would You please hide me in the shadows of the cross that Jesus alone might be seen, 04:18 that Christ alone would be heard? At the end of our time together, may Jesus alone be praised. 04:24 We pray it in the name of Him who is altogether lovely. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. 04:31 Let God's people say together amen. 04:33 [Congregation: Amen.] 04:34 Amen. You may be seated in the house of the Lord today. 04:36 Again, talking under the subject Every Little Step I Take. 04:45 Bear with me those who were on the prayer line earlier as I want to reinforce something. 04:52 The most important player in the game of football is a position player called the quarterback. 05:02 What makes a strong quarterback is not just a powerful or accurate arm. 05:09 What makes a good quarterback is the ability to keep his focus downfield. 05:16 So that once he has received the ball, the defense begins to rush the quarterback in an attempt to tackle him. 05:25 Understand, friends of mine, that the quarterback is able to feel the rush. He is able to be aware of the rush, 05:35 but he is never supposed to start looking at the rush. 05:40 What makes him great is that he's aware of it, but he keeps his focus downfield. 05:47 What allows the quarterback to keep his focus downfield is when he gets to a point 05:54 where he's able to trust his protection. 05:57 The quarterback is protected by some offense of linemen who are standing in front of him, 06:04 blocking every step along the way. And so, even though he is aware of the rush, 06:10 he is able to keep his eyes downfield because he trusts that his protection has his back. 06:17 I guess what I'm saying to us, saints, is that as we continue to walk by faith, 06:23 how many of us know that the devil is going to send a rush your way? He's going to send a rush financially. 06:31 He's going to send a rush emotionally. He's going to send a rush of enemies. 06:37 He's going to send a rush of sickness. 06:39 As a believer, I've got to be able to feel the rush without looking at the rush. 06:46 The reason I'm able to stop looking at the rush is because I trust my protection. 06:54 Is there anybody that knows that the angel of the Lord encamps about those that fear Him. 07:01 In other words, you've got angels blocking for you. And so, you've got to not worry about the rush. 07:08 You can keep your eyes on the goal, which is Jesus Christ. I don't focus on the problem. I look unto Jesus, 07:18 who is the author and the finisher of our faith. Can the church say amen today? 07:23 [Congregation: Amen.] 07:25 I want us to look quickly back at the story that we have been studying in the last couple of weeks 07:30 because there are some final things that Jesus wants to say. My prayer today, saints, 07:36 is that this word would be a steroid shot for your faith. In fact, this message is, really, 07:46 cannot be contained in one sermon. 07:49 The first thing we're going to learn today is that you will never be able to take a step of faith 07:55 until you're clear about who's sustaining you. Let me say it again. 07:59 That you will never be able to step in faith until you're clear on who's sustaining you. 08:07 Now, remember last week we learned that Peter gets out of the boat 08:12 and begins walking on the word to Jesus Christ. 08:18 Now, the question that too many of us have when we look at this story is why did Peter began to doubt? 08:27 What baffles my mind is not why did Peter begin to doubt. My question is why did the eleven remain in the boat? 08:40 In other words, when they see Peter walking on the water, there should have been an exodus from the boat. 08:48 I like to think that if I was on the boat, I would be like, "Lord, bid me to come to You also on the water." 08:56 In other words, I'd like to believe that real believers would want to share in the miracle that Peter is walking 09:05 in. But you will never make a single step in faith until you have clarity about who's sustaining you. 09:13 The problem is, in this moment, we think the only miracle has been done for Peter. 09:21 Remember now that God has been doing a miracle for the twelve all night long. 09:29 You realize that there is no way that this tiny fishing boat could survive a storm of that magnitude, 09:40 unless the hand of the Lord had been sustaining it. 09:45 In other words, remember that Jesus is watching from the shore. 09:49 My favorite author says that the watchful eye of Jesus was on the boat all night long. 09:57 I believe that God managed the storm so that storm's intensity could never be greater than their capacity. 10:07 I need somebody to get that the same hand that is holding up Peter is the same hand that is holding up the boat. 10:17 When Peter steps out of the boat, He simply holds Peter without the vessel, 10:23 the same way He did when he was in the vessel. How many of us know that every now and then, 10:30 God has to remove the vessel, so that we realize that our safety is not in the vessel, 10:37 but our safety is in the hands of the Almighty God. 10:42 Somebody's got to get to a place where you stop swearing loyalty to the vessel, 10:48 where you stop putting trust in the boat, but you realize that if God was keeping you in the boat, 10:54 then God can keep you when there is no boats. 10:58 The reason this is critical is because there's going to come seasons, where in order to stretch your faith, 11:06 God is going to remove the vessel so that you learn how to stand up in Him. Every now and then, 11:15 God has to bring you to a place where you realize that He is your source and He is your security. 11:25 Unrealistic faith will not become possible until you established Christ as your security. 11:33 In other words, as long as you think the boat is what's holding you, 11:38 you will have more loyalty to the vessel than you do to Jesus Christ. Can you say amen? 11:45 In other words, church, hear me that if God could sustain you in a job, guess what? 11:51 God can sustain you when you lose a job. If God was able to supply financial aid, 11:59 then God will get you through school when the financial aid runs out. 12:03 If God was able to sustain you when the stimulus came, guess what? 12:08 He'll still keep you now that the stimulus has gone away. 12:12 If God was able to keep the business at one location, He'll be able to keep the business at another location. 12:19 If God was able to keep you in the apartment, guess what? 12:24 God is able to bless you now that you've got a mortgage. 12:27 The reason this is important is because somebody is about to transition. 12:33 Somebody's about to go to the next level. Somebody's about to go to the higher plane. 12:39 Understand, you can't get to the higher level in the boat. 12:43 You can only get to the higher level in the hand of Jesus. 12:48 God has got to grow us to a place where we never confuse the vehicle that God sent with the victory 12:56 He wants to provide. Are you all hearing me today, church? 12:59 [Congregation: Clapping] 13:01 Okay. Let me say it this way. 13:02 Listen man, I remember when I was first teaching my oldest son how to swim. 13:06 You know how it is when when it was first teaching them. I would lay him on his belly in my hands 13:13 and I would put the flotation devices around his arms. 13:17 He would learn how to maneuver in the water as I was holding him in my hands. 13:22 After a certain point, Malcolm, I begin to remove the flotation devices. 13:27 What happens is he got nervous once the flotation devices were removed. 13:33 He was scared to be upheld in daddy's hand. 13:36 I need you to know. I got a little bit in my feelings because I needed him to know, son, 13:42 that the flotation devices weren't holding you. It was my hand that was sustaining you. 13:48 The flotation device was for your comfort, but it was my hand that was keeping you up. 13:54 How many of us know you are not ever get used to what's comforting you when it's the hand of God that's keeping 14:01 you. It is God that is holding you up. Are you hearing me today, saints? 14:07 The second thing, friends of mine, that this text teaches us is that sometimes, 14:13 faith is fluid. One thing about unrealistic faith is that unrealistic faith never plateaus. 14:26 Unrealistic faith never levels off. 14:31 They'll never be a time in unrealistic faith where you get to a place where you can say, "I'm straight. 14:38 I have made it. I'm good from here." I need you to get that when you make one step of faith, 14:46 each step has to get bigger from there or you're destined to sink. 14:52 In other words, believers are called to believe on an escalating scale of belief, 14:59 where I have to trust God in a more dependent way the further I abide in him. Are you with me today, saints? 15:07 I need somebody to get this ─ that faith is never stagnant. That faith is never stationary. 15:13 That faith, Dr. Jones said last week, is like a muscle that has to be constantly used or else it's going to 15:22 become weakened through a lack of activity. Are you hearing me today? 15:27 The thing I need somebody to get is that faith can be so fluid 15:34 and dynamic that somebody like Peter can go from walking on water to sinking in the same minute, 15:44 so that you can reach the peak of your faith and the valley of your faith in the same season of your life. 15:53 In other words, saints. 15:54 I need you to get that the fluidity of faith is actually a pattern that you see in scripture. 16:00 What do you mean, Pastor? One moment, we see Elijah standing in faith, calling fire down from heaven. 16:07 The next moment, when Jezebel doesn't retreat, he is under a juniper tree longing for death. 16:15 One moment, we find Israel with tambourines after God opened the Red Sea. 16:20 The next moment when there is no food, they are saying, "We never should have left Egypt." 16:26 One moment, John the Baptist is saying, "Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world." 16:33 The next time we see him, he's asking, "Are you the one or should we begin to look for another?" 16:40 One moment, Abraham is leaving his father and mother in faith. The next moment when the promise is delayed, 16:48 he's lying about who his wife is and taking Hagar to bed. One moment, 16:54 Noah is high as he gets on the arc, but after they are delivered, 16:59 he gets drunk and depressed and starts cursing in his tent. 17:03 I guess what I need somebody to know is that the faith of yesterday is not sufficient for the trial of today. 17:12 [Congregation: Clapping] 17:13 I need somebody to get this that unrealistic faith doesn't function in the past tense. 17:21 Here, Peter is, as he begins to walk on the word, I need you to know that with every little step he takes, 17:31 his faith begins to gain a little more traction. Now, I need you to see this, friends, 17:37 in your mind's eye because there is no way that Peter's faith can plateau as he is moving toward Jesus. 17:45 Okay. So that the second steps required a little more faith than the first step. 17:57 That when he gets 10 feet from the boat, it required more faith than when he was five feet from the boat. 18:04 That step 20 required more faith than step 19. That the further he gets from the boat, 18:12 the more he's got to have belief that God is able to keep him. 18:16 So that the step that he takes at step 40 is not sufficient, but are based on the faith he had at step 35. 18:24 I guess what I'm saying is the reason that some of us are about to sink is 18:30 because we're trying to take today's step with yesterday's faith. Where you all at today, church? 18:36 In other words, how many of us know that in order to see God move in this season, 18:42 you've got to have a faith that is fresh for right now. Are you all hearing me, saints? 18:49 Have you ever noticed something that when a lot of people talk about the power of God 18:56 and they're giving their testimony about the things God has done, 19:00 have you ever noticed that their point of reference is always 20 years ago? 19:07 In other words, whenever they talk about the greatest moments of their life with God, 19:13 their reference is always in the '70s, the '80s, or the '90s. 19:18 How many of us know that some of us ought to have a right now testimony of the goodness and the power of God. 19:27 Remember when God sent Moses, He didn't say, "Tell them the I was sent you." 19:33 He said, "Tell them that the I am sent you see." That's why David says that God is my refuge and my strength. 19:43 He is a very present help in the time of trouble. 19:47 I just need to know. Do I have at least seven folks in the room that have a right now testimony? 19:54 Where the times God answered prayer is not always in the past tense, but God is answering some prayers now. 20:03 God is opening doors now. God is making a way now. 20:09 We've got to get to a place where we're not always looking at what God used to do, 20:15 but we're thankful for what God is doing right now. Are you hearing me, saints? 20:19 [Congregation: Clapping] 20:21 The reason that some of us ain't seen God move in 20 years is because we ain't made a step in 20 years. 20:32 Okay. In other words, I know you didn't got comfortable giving 10% plus 5, but in order to grow, 20:41 you got to make another step in your stewardship. I know you and your boo, you all comfortable in your marriage, 20:47 but how many of us know you got room to grow? You got to make another step in your marriage. 20:52 I know you're comfortable where the business is now, but in order for the franchise, 20:57 you got to make another step in your faith. I know you have enough faith to get you here to Oakwood, 21:03 but you need to make some more steps in order to get through your time here at Oakwood. 21:09 What I'm saying to somebody is don't get so comfortable with where God was, 21:14 that you miss out on where God is right now. Are you all hearing the world today, saints? 21:21 I'm at a place, friends of mine, where I don't believe that my best days spiritually ought to be behind me. 21:28 I believe that the latter day out to be greater than the former day. 21:34 The Bible says that the end of a thing are to be better than the beginning of a thing. 21:39 The word says that the path of the just is like the shining sun getting brighter 21:45 and brighter as we get to the glorious day. 21:48 Do I have at least some folk who is saying, "I don't want my peak season to be in a past season. 21:54 I want my peak season to be right now. I want to be in the peak of health right now. 22:01 I want to be in the peak of prayer right now. I want to be in the peak of ministry right now. 22:07 I don't want the best days to be behind me. I want to walk in that anointing right now." 22:15 Can the church say amen today? 22:18 I need you to know you got to get to a place where you continue to update your faith 22:22 and keep your trust abiding in Jesus. What do you say? 22:26 Third thing this teachers is that unrealistic faith has to remain focused. 22:37 Now, this is an interesting little situation. Peter is doing so good as he walks on the water to Jesus Christ. 22:59 It's amazing how the Bible says that he is disrupted when he sees the waves boisterous and out of control. 23:10 Now, the thing I need you to understand, saints, is that it was storming when Peter first got out of the boat. 23:23 It was storming on the first step. It was storming on the 10th step. It was storming on the 30th step. 23:31 Nothing outside of Peter changed, but its focus. 23:37 There was something I put in the book that I don't think most of us got. 23:42 I need you to understand that the storm could not sink Peter. 23:47 The only thing the storm could do was distract Peter. As long as Peter is standing on the word, 23:56 the waves cannot overtake him. As long as he's standing in the invitation, the wind cannot knock him down. 24:04 I need you to know that he is on solid ground. As long as he stands in the word, the storm can't sink him. 24:13 Oh, I feel a praise in my spirit right now. God just wanted me to let somebody know who's in a stormy season, 24:21 as long as you stand on the word, I need you to know the storm can't touch you. Somebody's in a marital storm. 24:31 There is somebody in a financial storm. There is somebody in a medical storm. 24:37 Your children are in a behavior storm. What I need you to know is that as long as you stand on the word, 24:44 the wind cannot overtake you. The floods can't bring you under. 24:49 The word says that even when the enemy comes like a flood, 24:54 the spirit of the Lord is going to raise up a standard against him. Are you hear me today, saints? 25:05 I started asking myself some questions. If the storm knows that it can't beat Jesus, 25:17 if it knows he can't get Peter, why don't he just quit? If the storm knows I ain't no master Jesus. 25:30 The storm knows I can't take down Peter. Why doesn't he just go back the way he came? 25:37 Remember the storm's goal isn't to sink Peter. If he can just distract Peter, 25:48 if he can just take his eyes of Jesus momentarily, he knows that Peter will essentially sink himself. 25:58 Are you all hearing me today? 26:01 I need us to understand, beloved, the purpose of trials and satanic attack. 26:06 You all need to know the devil ain't no fool. 26:08 He knows that the angel of the Lord encamps about those that fear Him. 26:14 The devil knows that the weapons formed against you will not be able to prosper. 26:19 He knows he can't have your health. He knows he can't have your kids. He knows that he can't touch your life. 26:27 Listen, when he came for Job, do you remember what God said? He says, "Have you considered my servant Job?" 26:34 Do you remember what the devil said? The devil said, "No. I know who he is. You got a hedge about his house, 26:41 about his life and about everything he has." How did the devil know that job had a hedge? 26:49 Because he had already come for Job, but the hedge kept him and made the devil so that he could not touch him. 27:00 The devil knows that he can't take you under. But like the storm, he knows if he makes enough noise, 27:07 if he sends a little lightning, if he sends the rush you way, if he can get you to start looking at the rush 27:18 and stop focusing on Jesus, he knows that he can take you down. 27:24 This is why, friends of mine, it's so critical that we spend this week mastering our distractions. 27:30 Can you say amen? 27:31 Thank you so much for joining us for the Breath of Life Television Ministries 27:35 broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell! 27:39 We hope that you have been blessed through today's message 27:43 and that you t take a radical step of faith in trusting God. 27:48 Join us next week for Part Two of “Every Little Step I Take.” You don't want to miss it! 27:56 (Breath of Life Theme Music) 28:21 [End] |
Revised 2022-05-06